Ninth installment

In the morning I was taken back to the police station, back to the same room and again told to wait, how many more times before something different happened. One of the English speaking men walked past me and I asked him if I could ring the embassy again, he said that I could. Eventually I got through to someone who told me that they had already contacted the Yugoslavian government and they had agreed to release me, I just had to be patient. They told me that it would be advisable for me to leave the country as soon as possible, I had no objections to that, but only as far as Croatia, overland I could not reach Vukovar without being arrested again. After what seemed like an eternity I was led back into the room where they told me they were satisfied and that I was free to go, they gave all my belongings back and told me to pack them away as quickly as possible, there was no way that I was going to give them the opportunity to change their minds. They gave me my passport back and I put my bergan on my back and asked them if they could direct me to the train station, they explained and off I went with a sence of satisfaction not looking back just in case. Eventually I found the railway station, bought my ticket to Novi Sad and found out the time of the train, I had a couple of hours to wait so I sat down on the bench and enjoyed the sun, it was a beautiful day, warm, sunny just like back in the UK and at last I was going to get to where I wanted to be. The train arrived half an hour late just like British Rail, always late.

I got on the train found an compartment and sat down, it was not going to be a long journey and before I had a chance to get comfortable we arrived at Novi Sad, as it was now getting dark I decided to find the ticket office and get my ticket for Budapest, I went up to the first window I came to that had a sign for tickets above the glass, they pointed to another window so I went and bought my ticket. No sooner had I taken paid for and taken my ticket when two police men came up to me and I was arrested again, out of one mess and into another. They took me to the end of the platform, they seemed like transport police as they were dressed differently it was just like follow the leader police station to police station, it was like follow the leader one big party game but of course it was not so again I emptied my bergan on the table and they checked everything which it seemed was written on a piece of paper as if they were expecting me and had been told to check up on me. With all this sitting down I thought that the Yugoslavians were trying to kill me by giving me a sore backside and not by shooting me but of course I did as I was told. Eventually I was told to pack everything back and then told to follow them, I was led through the railway station and put into a police van, I could think of better ways to see a city than from looking out of a police van, it was only five minutes and we stopped, I got out and surprise surprise another police station, they led me inside and told to wait, it wasn't long before a tall man dressed smartly came up to me and shook my hand, fame at last he immediately started to raise his voice at the officer's behind him and I found out that he was from the embassy, after about ten minutes he came back to me and apologized for all the trouble and I was free to go, how very nice of him I thought. He took me to a hotel but I knew that I didn't have a lot of money left but it was safer than sleeping on the platform at the train station and the man explained to me that he would sort out my ticket for tomorrow and would leave it with the receptionist who spoke excellent English, signed in and led up to my room, he asked me if I wanted something to eat and drink and that he would wait downstairs. The gentleman to the restaurant in the hotel where we sat down and ordered, he asked for two coffees and two whiskeys perhaps there was some hospitality in communist Yugoslavia after all. He told me that it was very dangerous for foreigners in this country at the moment as they were at war as if I didn't know that, he also told me that there were mercenaries in Croatia all being paid for by another country, all getting about two thousand dollars a month, wow I thought, there was also what he said were Ustasha which I didn't understand fighting on the front line and that they were supposidbly torturing and massacring innocent Serbians and all the front line troops were carrying all sorts of drugs but this was too far fetched to believe, it seemed that Croatia were the aggressors and not Yugoslavia which seemed a bit far fetched from what I had read in the newspapers and seen on TV. This to me sounded like propaganda orchestried by the Government in Belgrade, I knew how powerful the media could be if it was controlled by the Government. When we had finished a college of his joined us and ordered some food for us, I didn't pay for anything and I was very glad. We had a couple of more brandys, after a few more drinks I said I would like to return the hospitality but I was sorry but I had to leave at six in the morning, I was absolutely drunk or tired but I fell asleep immediately. In the morning I washed, dressed and put my bergan on my back and left the hotel, straight to the train station and unusualy the train was right on time. My first few days in Yugoslavia had been both scary and informative, I had seen many kinds of communism that I had read so much about, gestapo tactics, people scared of the police and government, people believing that was in the newspapers and on TV, I knew now that the people that I wanted to fight for were the people that had had enough and wanted their freedom. I was now on my way at long last and looking forward to whatever lay ahead, Croatia here I come for good or for worse,I would soon see and find out for myself.